The Way Things Were
by Madame-Cashmere
Summary: A series of one-shots/vignettes about the Hale family; the lives of twelve werewolves before eight of them tragically perished in the fire.
1. Prologue: Pictures

**Since these are vignettes/one-shots, I'll be putting a small summary at the beginning of each chapter… Enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER FOR STORY: If anything from the television series Teen Wolf appears, it belongs to the creators. I own the OC's and the ideas for the one-shots.**

* * *

_SUMMARY: _

_In which Derek, Peter, and Cora talk about what life was like before the fire. Scott, Stiles, Allison, Lydia, and Isaac can't help but listen in._

* * *

The little gang is spread out across Derek's loft, each engaged in their own affairs, as if they were the only ones in the room.

Scott and Stiles are discussing the identity of the Darach. Allison is examining the weapons she has on her, occasionally sharpening a blade if needed. Lydia is drawing a tree in her notebook. Isaac is doing chemistry homework. The three Hales are on the couch.

Cora is at the far left end, chin resting in her hand, her eyes glazed as if in deep thought. Derek is at the far right end, staring off into space with the usual brooding look about him, and he wore the same unanimated look as his sister. Peter sits in the middle, and he's staring at a small, slightly bent picture.

Cora looks over at the picture, and a sad smile spreads across her face.

"I thought all our pictures were destroyed in the fire," she says softly.

The picture in question depicts two females– a mother and daughter. The older woman has golden curls, a young face, warm brown eyes, and a beautiful smile. The little girl has the same golden curls as her mother, a carefree grin, but her eyes are a pale blue.

Derek looks, interest piqued. "Aunt Bethany and Celia…" he mutters, "I nearly forgot what they looked like,"

"That's why I always carried this with me," Peter says impassively.

"It's alright to miss them," Cora traces little Celia's face, "they were your wife and daughter. I know how much you loved them– how much you _still_ love them…"

Peter says nothing, but continues scanning the picture with a guarded look in his eyes. Derek and Cora are now fixated on the image, lost in memories of the way things were.

The Hales are so absorbed in their thoughts that they don't notice the five teenagers abandoning what they were doing, and listening avidly to the small sentences shared.

They need a distraction– and the story of the Hale family is something they were all subconsciously curious about.

Scott vaguely remembers when Cora used to be in their elementary school. Stiles has some distant memories of Laura Hale babysitting him. Isaac thought of the two mischievous Hale twins that were in his swim class. Lydia clearly remembered when her mother used to volunteer at a preschool where the littlest Hale went. Allison recalls a time when her father went to Beacon Hills on a 'business trip', when he was actually with Gerard, preparing to discuss peace with Deucalion and the other packs.

The five teenagers listen quietly as the small family on the couch spoke of the way things were.

* * *

**How was that? Please review! **


	2. Morning

_SUMMARY: _

_Teenage Laura Hale is used to living with her huge family– one of the downsides includes competing for use of one of the two bathrooms in the morning._

* * *

There's only two bathrooms in the cavernous, three-floor Hale House. Two.

Sixteen-year-old Laura Hale lives with several other family members, who all seem to get up at the exact same time in the morning. Each morning, Laura has to wait on a line just to get bathroom time. All teenage girls need at least two hours in the bathroom, it's a fact.

Today is especially important for Laura– it's Tuesday. Tuesday means double English, and double English means ninety whole minutes of sitting behind Logan, one of the hottest boys in school and her crush. She needed to look extra pretty today– Laura woke up an hour earlier, and still she ended up behind her kid brother. She has exactly thirty minutes to shower, brush her teeth, straighten her hair, expertly apply makeup, and choose a hot-but-not-slutty outfit.

Her younger, dork twin cousins, Asher and Eli, are arguing over the direction in which the toilet flushed. It's times like this that Laura hates having werewolf hearing.

"See? It swirls to the right–"

"–Nuh uh, it goes to the left–"

She palm-slaps her forehead. Laura is thankful when Derek lets her go ahead of him, seeing her increasingly aggravated expression. She eyes the door, contemplating whether or not she should get her claws out.

Uncle Peter would laugh and cheer her on. Her mother, on the other hand, wouldn't be so pleased with a slashed door.

Laura nearly screams in relief when Asher and Eli finally exit the bathroom. She is just about to run for the shower when they speak.

"Shower head broke off," Eli says nonchalantly.

"Toilet doesn't work," Asher adds.

_Look who wants to be werepup-kebab_, Laura thinks menacingly, _I'll get you two later_.

And Laura makes a dash for the bathroom on the floor above, hoping it wasn't occupied.

* * *

**This was based off a scene from the 2005 remake of "Yours, Mine, and Ours" :)**

**Review?**


	3. Memory

_SUMMARY: _

_Peter Hale remembers when he first met his future wife, Bethany, and how their relationship has evolved from their first meeting._

* * *

When Peter first met his wife, he was eighteen– a senior in high school.

He was talking with his friends about the upcoming basketball game during math, when she walked in. The teacher introduced her as Bethany Underwood, a new student from Colorado. Peter was aware that Bethany was from a visiting pack, but he never actually met any werewolves outside his family.

Until that day.

It was her looks that drew Peter in. Her long, luscious golden curls bounced whenever she moved. Her eyes were a shimmering, delectable chocolate brown. Her skin was flawless, fair– not a single pimple or blemish in sight. She had high cheekbones and naturally red lips, she was five-foot-three to his six feet.

Peter remembered the seductive smirk she sent him as she passed by his desk to her seat.

At first their relationship was purely physical. They used each other for a good tumble in the sheets and heated make-out sessions.

But then they became friends– actual friends. Peter liked her as a friend, too. Most of the girls in school liked him because of his looks, not because of his personality. Sure, he was a teenage boy– he loved in the attention, and he knew he was good-looking, but it would've been nice to have at least one female friend. He found that friend in Bethany.

Bethany wasn't like girls in Beacon Hills, Peter observed. She read many classics, like _The Great Gatsby_ and _Wuthering Heights_, and preferred rock music to pop, which he thought all girls liked. She was fiery and witty, but kind and compassionate.

Peter enjoyed her company– he would listen to her rambles about her overprotective father, who was the alpha of her pack, and she would give him extremely good advice when he needed it. Hell, they even spent some full moons together, letting their wolves take over and run through the woods at night.

It took him a while to realize that Bethany Underwood had crept up on his heart, and that their relationship was so much more than casual. His older sister, Talia, was the first person to tell him that.

By the time he decided to make a move, it was too late. Bethany Underwood was dating another guy in their year. Peter didn't like it, not one bit. He made a point to constantly provoke the arrogant idiot, and that eventually got him on Bethany's bad side. Peter would return home from school hostile and more irritable than usual, and only his sister knew why.

One day Bethany came up to him after Peter had given her boyfriend a black eye, and demanded to know what his problem was. In response, he pulled her body to his and slammed his lips to hers.

For a few months, their relationship became tense. She would actively avoid him, and Peter would shadow her wherever she went. Peter's ego knew that Bethany would give in eventually– he was right.

Two years later, Bethany Underwood became Bethany Hale. Two years after that, little Celia was born.

And that was how Peter Hale's life truly began.

* * *

**Oh my. It seems that I'm going to have so much fun writing Peter/Bethany/Celia chapters… Review?**


	4. Friend

_SUMMARY: _

_A young Cora doesn't have many friends in third grade– a funny, sarcastic boy in her class decides to change that._

* * *

She blames Derek.

Nine-year-old Cora is convinced her older brother is the reason no one wants to be her friend– the kids in her class see Derek Hale as cool, someone you shouldn't mess with. That view on her brother unfortunately extends to her, his baby sister.

Cora asks a few girls if she could play jump rope with them, but the girls exchange nervous looks and tell her there's too many players as it is. She could practically hear her sister scoffing, 'since when does _jump rope _have too many players?'

Feeling slightly dejected, she even had the nerve to ask Jackson Whittemore if she could join in on the mock-lacrosse game. His friend Danny seems to have no problem with it, but Jackson elbows him and mutters something along the lines of, "Dude, her brother will kill us if she gets hurt". Jackson waves her off and says lacrosse isn't a game for girls.

She sighs and plops down on the bench, watching her classmates play. In that moment, Cora decided that she doesn't need friends to be happy. She's a born werewolf, she sprouts claws and canines on the full moon. Cora doesn't need human friends, not when she has her family– her pack. Thinking about her family puts an image of Derek in her mind. Cora is reminded of the reason why no one wants to be her friend.

Stupid over-protective big brothers, she grumbled in her head.

Cora was too busy sulking to notice the person who took a seat next to her. When Cora's heightened senses detected an unknown scent in close proximity, she whipped her head to the right. Sitting next to her, was a boy. He has brown hair, cropped close to his head. His eyes are a dark hazel, almost brown. He's fidgeting, and she could smell the curiosity on him.

"Hi, there," he greets uncertainly.

"Hi," Cora lets out another sigh.

"I saw you sitting here by yourself," the boy says, "thought you looked lonely,"

Cora blinks, amazed that he's actually talking to her.

"I'm Stiles," he grins, holding out his hand.

"... Cora," she replied hesitantly, shaking his outstretched hand.

All the things her mother told her about being careful around humans came rushing forward in her brain. No claws, she reminded herself, no golden eyes, no growling, howling, any wolf-like qualities are a no-no around humans.

Cora learned a lot about this Stiles. His father is a deputy, and apparently his mother is sick, but Stiles is convinced she'll pull through. He also has a friend named Scott, but he wasn't at school today because a bad asthma attack landed him in the hospital. Stiles also likes a lot of old movies, like _The Wolfman_, Cora tried not to laugh at the irony, and the original _Star Wars_.

She told him about her family– not the whole werewolf part, but the other stuff. Like how her Uncle Peter and Aunt Bethany are expecting a baby, how her other aunt, Lily, reacted to Asher and Eli's 'plastic wrap on the toilet' prank. Stiles laughed at that one.

Cora checks her watch.

It's the full moon tonight, and her daddy is picking her up early from school in preparation. She couldn't wait to tell Laura that she made a new friend.

* * *

**Aww. Little Cora and Stiles... I don't ship them as a romantic couple, but that scene when Stiles was talking to Cora in the ambulance, trying to keep her awake, that inspired me to write this :) Review?**


	5. Apocalypse

_SUMMARY: _

_Asher and Eli are uncharacteristically confounded with their most recent homework assignment; a presentation on how you would survive a zombie apocalypse._

* * *

Eleven-year-olds Asher and Eli are stumped.

When the project was first assigned, they thought it was the coolest thing since Mentos and soda. It was the only time the twins were excited about homework. That is, until they started thinking.

"Can we even get infected if a zombie bites us?" Asher squints into space, nose crinkling in thought, referring to their werewolf bloodline.

"No clue," Eli shrugs, and looks down to the blank piece of oak tag in front of them.

They have all the supplies ready– markers, multi-colored construction paper, glue, staples, and possibly all the office supplies in the house are surrounding them. The problem is they don't know what to do with it.

"You know, we're kind of like zombies," Asher muses, picking up a pencil and expertly twirling it between his fingers.

"Except for the fact that, you know, we don't crave human brains," Eli snorts, trying different ways of angling construction paper on the oak tag.

"Idiot, I mean how they're created. When werewolves bite a human, they either turn or die. If a zombie bites a human, they either turn or bleed to death,"

Eli looks up. _Huh_, he thinks, _never thought of it like that before_.

The boys sit in silence, a slow tension forming in the air. The infamous Hale twins _never_ get creativity blocks; their numerous–and admittedly ingenious– pranks support that. They groan in unison, flopping backwards onto the floor.

"I thought sixth grade was going to be different from fifth… Everyone in elementary said that middle school is the bomb," Eli reaches an arm up, tracing an abstract shape in the ceiling patterns.

"Is there a full moon coming up? I don't think I've ever been able to _not_ have a plan," Asher says, shaking his dark hair from his eyes.

"Unfortunately, the full moon was last week. Which means one thing– we're losing our touch,"

The boys release another set of synchronized groans at the thought.

There's another pregnant pause, and the twins don hilariously frustrated expressions as they try to come up with ideas for their project.

"Cora and Kieran are twins, too," Asher says, eyebrows furrowing. "How come they don't have problems?"

"... No clue," Eli replies.

With that, they abandoned the oak tag and went to consult the internet.

* * *

**I actually had an assignment like this a few weeks ago… thought it would be fun to incorporate it with our little mischief makers ;) Review?**


End file.
